Neither of us were very hungry for dinner last night so we decided on cereal. I got out my "Rice Krisps" and dh said are those Rice Krispies? I'll have that, too. I said well, it's store brand. I can't find Rice Krispies anymore, so tried these. He asked if they are good? I said they taste the same to me, just a little flatter shape. So, he poured a bowl and took a bite and says "taste good to me". I said good, because they are way cheaper. A 24 oz big box of Great Value brand is only $2.64. An 18 oz box of Rice Krispies is $3.28, almost twice as much per ounce. I think the next GV brand items I am going to try are their cake mix and frosting.
As I figured mom had forgotten about wanting the ancestry name information by the time I talked to her after dinner. Since I now have the camera I decided to do a test. Not call her before her med dispenser chimes at her and see if she can figure it out AND take the pills. At least she knew what the chiming was for (and not the phone ringing) and sat down and pushed the button and the 5 pills dropped into the cup. You could tell she was thinking on what to do. She pulled the little cup out, but then the area just above the cup starts flashing in red (to remind you to put the cup back) and you could tell she was trying to figure out what to do. Finally she dumped the pills in her hand and put the cup back and then walked over to her sink (which I can't see because the camera is right above on top of the cabinet) and I could hear water running and lots of noise LOL. Then I called to say hello and just said "did you get your pills taken?" And even though it was literally not much more than a minute since she took them you could tell she can't remember if she just did or not, but then she says yes.
I've also noticed that sometimes she is having trouble figuring out how to get her tv to change channels and use the guide. Sometimes she has no problem, other times she can't seem to figure it out and just turns it off. Last night she seemed to figure it out and was watching baseball all evening until she went to bed, so that's good.
Payroll went fairly smooth yesterday. First time in months. There was a "glitch" with how one of the new employees was set up. Seems to always happen because setting up a new employee (my bosses job) in this system is crazy complicated. Something to do with he lives out of state so his workers comp needed to be set to that state and they needed to set up him up with that rate and didn't know about it until yesterday, so I had to wait while they (the payroll company) figured out the rate to use and set it up. Then I was given the go ahead to submit my payroll.
I haven't inquired about a performance/salary review yet. But, I'm getting myself closer to getting myself to do it. I'm actually almost completely caught up with our monthly financial reports. I'm just about done with February and should be sending my boss the financial packet of reports in a couple days at the most. This is about as caught up as I can be. I really can't start on March until mid April or even finish it until early May because we are still receiving reports of sales/commissions for the prior month from a lot of of our manufacturers. So, I'm very close to this as a monthly timeline now. I figure being all caught up is a good time to ask!
I also was chatting via email with my side job boss yesterday. She made a comment that her dh (one of their company owners) is looking to retire at the end of 2023. It's likely that the other owner (a younger guy who I have very little contact with) may decide not to use me as their bookkeeper after that. So, something to keep in the back of my mind, for budgeting down the road. I've always known this probably wasn't going to be a long term gig - and actually it's lasted way longer than I ever thought it would (12 years now).
I think almost all the great value products are good. One I do not like though is the brownie mix. I bought them for years, so it must have changed. Now they sink on me all the time. It might work fine for you but I'm at a much higher elevation than you are. One baking mix I prefer wm brand over name brand is the cheesecake mix-much better than the jello brand.
ReplyDeleteI have found most to be good. Though I only seem to like DelMonte canned veggies.
DeleteSometimes there really is no difference between no name and brand name! As for the side job, I chuckled at the fact that you knew it would never be long term - but you're 12 years in, haha! I am glad she gave you the heads up however :) that is a lot of time to plan!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised dh liked the cereal. He's the type that would just hear "store brand" and automatically get it in his head it won't taste good.
DeleteFor the first time ever I looked through the grocery store ads to see what was "on offer" and made a list. A couple of thing were worth it but in most cases the "own brand" stuff was cheaper than the on offer stuff even after the discount. Since there's very little I buy from a brand name (Green Giant sweet corn being the only one that springs to mind), I don't think I'll bother again!
ReplyDeleteGood to check! I remember years ago, when my kids were younger, someone looking down on me because I shopped at Walmart. I did buy a lot of name brand at that time, but even name brand at WM is usually always cheaper than at a regular grocery store. I made a comment why would I pay $X for "brand name" item when I can get the exact same thing for $2 cheaper at WM??! (probably a box of cereal or something).
DeleteA cake mix would be a perfect product to try. That would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteMonica:)
Deletethe reviews on the frosting say it's good and some even say they like it better. Worth a try!
DeleteWill you need to figure out a new household budget if side job stops or do you consider it extra? Easier to plan if extra, but sounds like it's not out of the blue.
ReplyDeleteI try to think of it as extra for the most part, but after 12 years, it's kinda easy for it to be part of the budget, haha. It is good to have a tentative date for them and gives me awhile to plan ahead some.
DeleteThe camera certainly adds a new layer to your oversight of her, not only physical safety, but also what her mental processes are or might be. You would think the company responsible for entering details of a new employee would know and pride themselves on doing the job.
ReplyDeleteThe camera does show her thought process - she does seem to be confused often and trying to figure out what she's doing/where going at times. It's my boss who has to enter all the new employee info but the system is so cumbersome with pages and pages and tabs and boxes to check off that it's easy for her to miss something. Especially now that we are starting to hire out of state remote workers, too.
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